


A Regular Family Gathering

by demonkidpliz



Series: Mahabharata Modern AU [3]
Category: Mahabharata - Vyasa, महाभारत | Mahabharat (TV 2013)
Genre: F/M, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:13:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24982879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonkidpliz/pseuds/demonkidpliz
Summary: I have always wondered how Krishna attends family gatherings without at least one incident of attempted murder.
Relationships: Arjuna/Subhadra(Mahabharata), Draupadi/Yudhisthira (Mahabharata), Krishna (Hindu Religions & Lore)/Rukmini (Mahabharata)
Series: Mahabharata Modern AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1808305
Kudos: 14





	A Regular Family Gathering

“Uh, you and Bhabhi go ahead, I’ll park the car and come,” Krishna nodded towards the door.

Balaram got down from the car and helped his wife down, “Rukmini?” he asked.

“She’ll come with me,” Krishna called out. As Balaram shut the door, Krishna pulled the car away down the drive, into basement parking.

“Any particular reason?” Rukmini enquired.

Krishna shrugged. “Not really.” He continued after a pause, “Your brother is here. Arjun just texted me.”

“Krishna…”

“No, I’m not going to stand it if he’s going to misbehave with you again,” Krishna muttered, looking for an empty parking spot.

“You don’t have to worry about that. He barely even talks to me,” Rukmini sighed.

Krishna parked the car and the two of them got out.

...

“Where have the two of you been?” Panchali demanded as she launched herself on them, giving first Krishna, and then Rukmini a hug.

“My goodness, Panchali, someone’s really dressed up for the occasion!” Rukmini exclaimed, surveying Panchali’s resplendent lehnga and jewellery.

Panchali grinned, “All the spoils from my engagement. You don’t look so bad yourself.” she said, stepping back to admire Rukmini’s floor-length black and fuschia kameez with golden zari work. 

“And you,” she said, turning to look at Krishna in his golden-hued Nehru jacket. She ran her hand down the sleeve appreciatively. “Rohit Bal?” she asked.

Krishna laughed, running a hand through his curls, “I have no idea. Ask my stylist.” he said motioning towards his wife.

Rukmini was busy waving to someone. “I’ll be back in a minute, guys,” she said, a hand on Panchali’s shoulder.

Krishna watched as she headed over to the hall to join Subhadra, Revati and Bhanumati. He turned to follow Panchali as she dragged him to be introduced to a myriad of people from her workplace.

...

Presently he found himself alone and Arjun ambled over, a glass in his hand. The two best friends greeted each other with a one-armed hug.

“Can I get you a drink?” Arjun offered.

Krishna shook his head, “Nah, I’m good.”

“I’m already bored,” Arjun said, downing his glass, “Have you got your car? We can go for a quick drive.”

“Dau and Bhabhi came with me. How were four of us expected to fit into the convertible?” Krishna said, shaking his head, “We brought Dau’s Range Rover, but I drove.”

“Hmm, is that why you’re not drinking?”

Krishna pursed his lips, “I don’t think either of us has Dau’s capacity to hold liquor.”

Arjun nodded, “You’ve got to hand it over to Dau Bhaiya, man. He’s a real pro.”

Krishna turned to face Arjun, “What about your car?”

Arjun passed his empty glass to a hovering waiter, “Not with me.”

“Why?” Krishna asked.

Arjun sighed, “Panchali’s taken it. For good. At least until her internship gets over. Once she and Bade Bhaiya get married, I’m sure she’ll get her own car and return mine.”

“Is that ethical?” Krishna pondered, “For Panchali to use your car for her internship?”

Arjun snorted, “Doesn’t Rukmini use your Ambassador to go to college?”

“Of course! The Ferrari would attract too much attention,” Krishna grinned.

“There you have it…”

“Wasting taxpayer’s hard-earned money for personal frivolities and calling it ‘ethical’”, a vicious voice called out. 

The two friends turned to face the owner. Krishna’s expression immediately stiffened on seeing that it was his brother-in-law.

“Excuse me,” Arjun blinked, addressing Rukmi, “Is there a problem?”

“You think this is a joke? Your car is sponsored by the Indian defence and not meant for timepass use by your family members. And isn’t Panchali’s father loaded? Why can’t he get her her own car?” Rukmi said spitefully.

“Panchali is perfectly capable of buying a car for herself,” Arjun replied coldly, “She doesn’t need me or my brother or her father to help her out. It’s another matter that I have agreed to lend her mine for the time being. But I still can’t fathom what  _ your _ problem is.”

“Excuse me if I have a hard time believing that. She got through to college because of her father. She got her internship because of this one,” he said, pointing a derogatory finger towards Krishna, “She got her job because of her fiancé…”

Arjun opened his mouth to reply but Krishna cut in smoothly, “See this is why you and I don’t get along, Rukmi Bhaiya. You never learned how to respect women.”

Rukmi sneered, “And you respect women all the time, is that it?”

Krishna nodded vigorously, “I do. I worship women in every form.”

Rukmi glowered, his nostrils flaring.

Krishna clucked, “You don’t believe me? Ask your sister! She will assure you that I’m down on my knees in front of her every day.”

Rukmi’s glass dropped to the floor with a spectacular crash. Before Arjun could even figure out what was happening, Rukmi’s hands were wrapped tightly around Krishna’s throat.

“Bhai saab, what are you doing?” asked Arjun in alarm, even as Krishna struggled in vain to loosen Rukmi’s viselike grip.

“What did you say? Say that again! I am going to  _ fucking kill you _ !” Rukmi roared.

“Let go of him!” Arjun said, struggling to get in between the two men in a bid to separate them.

Rukmi did let go of Krishna’s throat only to land a resounding punch on his nose.

“Oh, God! There’s blood. Oh fuck, is it broken? Have you gone crazy?” Arjun’s high-pitched screams carried all the way across the hall.

Rukmini turned her head to find the source of the commotion. “Oh my God!” she cried out, thrusting her drink into Subhadra’s hand, and rushing over.

Rukmi looked like he was going to choke the very life out of Krishna.

“What are you doing, Bhaiya? Let him go!” she screamed, pulling at her brother’s arm with all the force she could muster.

Rukmi turned in blind fury, his hand ready to strike his source of interruption. Rukmini immediately let go of his arm, her hands coming up to cover her face, involuntarily, as she winced, bracing herself for the blow.

But it didn’t come, and as she looked up she saw that Krishna had caught hold of Rukmi’s wrist. 

“Just who do you think you’re raising your hand against?” he said in a deathly whisper.

“What’s all this?” an authoritative voice came through.

Krishna dropped Rukmi’s arm with more force than necessary.

Balaram came to the scene, taking in all the peculiarities. “Release my brother, at once,” he thundered.

Krishna shrugged his collar out of Rukmi’s now lax grip.

“I think you’ve overstayed your welcome here, Rukmi. It’s time for you to leave,” said Balaram roughly.

“I don’t come and go at your pleasure,” Rukmi snapped.

“No, that would be mine,” Yudi interrupted, “This is my family event, and I cannot allow you to stay here after you’ve physically assaulted one of my guests.”

“Leave, now. Or I’ll have you thrown out!” Balaram threatened.

Rukmi huffed and turned on his heel.

“Panchali, ice,” Rukmini requested as Arjun steered Krishna into a chair.

Rukmini knelt in front of him, her hands shaking as she took the plum coloured silk handkerchief from his breast pocket and began dabbing his nose.

“Why didn’t you stop him sooner?” she asked softly.

“I remembered that a certain someone had once asked me, a long time ago, never to hurt their brother,” came the reply.

Rukmini shook her head, her eyes full of unshed tears. She took the ice from Panchali, bundled it in the handkerchief, and applied it carefully to his bloodied nose.

“Well, do we need to take him to the ER?” Balaram asked gruffly.

“The bleeding has stopped. We should let Bhoomi take a look,” replied Rukmini.

Bhoomi had just made his way through the crowd. Rukmini stood up as the doctor peered at Krishna’s face, his fingers gingerly touching his nose and cheekbones.

“You’ll be fine, Bhai!” he said, slapping his shoulder. “I recommend a few painkillers and more ice if the bleeding resumes.”

...

“Just once, Kanha. Just once I would like to go to a family get together where you don’t try to kill someone. Or someone doesn’t try to kill you,” said Balaram, steering the car on to the Bypass.

Krishna, sitting in the back seat, caught his older brother’s eye in the rearview mirror. “I was attacked, unprovoked!”

“Why did you even have to go near him?” Balaram countered.

“I didn’t! Arjun and I were talking and he interrupted us…”

“Forget about it, Bhai,” Revati cut in, “How is your nose? Does it still hurt?”

“I’ll live,” said Krishna lightly. He turned to look at his wife, in the seat next to him, but she was staring fixedly out the rolled-up window.

...

Once they reached home, Balaram and Revati wished them goodnight and went off to their own room. Krishna changed out of his jacket and slacks into a pair of dark blue pyjamas, deciding against wearing a t-shirt. He helped himself to a couple of painkillers from the medicine cabinet next to the nightstand and stood in front of the mirror to inspect his brother-in-law’s handiwork.

On seeing Rukmini enter the room, he turned around. “You haven’t changed?”

“Just folding the laundry, and finishing some chores,” she replied, still in her party clothes.

Krishna walked over to the bed and flopped down on it. Rukmini wordlessly began to put clothes away in the cupboard.

“You are upset,” he observed.

She didn’t reply, neatly stacking the clothes with single-minded concentration.

Krishna sat up on the bed and pulled her by her wrist. She stood in front of him, still looking anywhere but at him.

“What’s the matter?” he asked gently, his arms coming up to circle her waist.

“I just...look, I haven’t spoken to my brother in years because it almost always ends with a lot of shouting and name-calling so I just try and avoid…”

“Yes, but…”

“No, why did you have to talk to him at all?”

“As I said, he came up to talk to us,” Krishna said patiently.

“Then you should have avoided him! What were you guys talking about anyway?”

Krishna repeated the conversation, almost word-to-word for Rukmini’s benefit.

She listened in silence, a peculiar expression on her face.

“What?” Krishna said as he finished reliving the eventful evening.

“You didn’t,” Rukmini said, shaking her head, “No.”

“No?” he repeated, perplexed.

“No. I just...I cannot believe you said that. To my brother. To his face. Small wonder he tried to kill you!”

“But it’s true!” Krishna argued, a mischievous grin spreading across his face.

“Krishna!” Rukmini protested, her voice rising, two spots of colour appearing high on her cheeks.

“What? Would you like me to prove it right now?” Krishna challenged. He smirked, as he pulled her down to meet her in a kiss.

Rukmini drew away, “Your nose is bruised,” she counteracted, “And you have a meeting tomorrow with the rest of the party members. People talk, Krishna.”

“Let them,” Krishna shrugged.

Rukmini arched a flawless eyebrow, “Yes, that is exactly the kind of attitude we’re looking for in our future MP.”

When Krishna did not respond, Rukmini ran her hands through his curls, before resting them around his neck, gently stroking the bruise marks left there by her brother. 

“Was it worth it?” she whispered, her dark eyes boring into Krishna’s soft, brown ones.

Krishna sighed, pulling her closer to him, their foreheads touching, “I just wanted to prove to your brother that he was wrong about me, about  _ us _ . But yes, it was stupid and petty of me. If you can refrain from talking to him just to avoid conflict _—_ and I know how hard that is for you _—_ then I have no business making matters worse. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Rukmini said, her hands coming up to frame Krishna’s face, “I should apologize to you, on behalf of my brother.”

“You are not your brother,” Krishna said seriously, “And I thank God every day for that.”

“Hmm,” said Rukmini, “Although I’m not entirely sure he was at fault this time. I think you may have had this one coming… Krishna stop!” she cried as he fell back on the bed and yanked her playfully down next to him.

She laughed, as her head came to rest in its customary position on his upper arm.

“Ow,” Krishna complained, pulling at a string of zari from Rukmini’s kameez, “This dress is itchy!”

“Wear a shirt,” Rukmini yawned.

Krishna turned to face her, eyebrows raised, “The activities I have planned do not entail me wearing a shirt, or you that dress."  His fingers came up to fiddle with the knots in her hair and began undoing her elaborate side-plait.

“Is that so?” she said, turning to face him, their noses brushing. She pulled him in by the back of his head and kissed him, gently at first, and then with vigour.

Turns out he was right.

_ The end _

  
  
  
  



End file.
